


Ink

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Fic Exchange, I Wrote This While Listening To 100 Gecs' Music, M/M, Not Beta Read, Slow Burn Oneshot, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, i was so fucking high while i wrote this please ignore the spelling errors, sorry bren i hope u like it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26221459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When you turn sixteen, you receive a tattoo that represents you. It moves around and you can switch with your soulmate. Sokka gets a wolf, and at first he's excited. Until he finds out his soulmate is Fire Nation.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 446





	Ink

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Juniperboy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juniperboy/gifts).



> This was for the rats fic exchange. rat gang wya

The morning of his sixteenth birthday, Sokka looked down at his chest. 

He knew it would be there, that spot had been itching for about a week. Everyone knew what that meant. 

Tattooed on his chest was an arctic wolf, it moved around just a little. 

He loved it. Honestly he didn’t think he could have asked for a better soul tattoo.

On everyone’s sixteenth birthday, they received a tattoo from the universe. Something that represented them. The tattoos could move around as they pleased. Everyone was also assigned a soulmate. It was the person you would spend your life with, it didn’t have to be a romantic partnership, many were friends. Some didn’t end up with their soulmates. But soulmates could transfer their tattoos to each other, and that was how they found each other.

Sokka poked his tattoo and it made a face like it was growling. He smiled and pulled on his undershirt. 

Once he was ready to go he went outside.

“Happy birthday Sokka!” His sister immediately jumped on him. He hugged her back. “Race you to the penguin field!” Katara said, shoving him to the ground and taking off.

“Hey!” He shouted, standing up and running. He got to the top of the hill and looked down. She was already waving a fish at some penguins. 

“That was totally cheating!” Sokka cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered at her from the top of the hill. 

“We didn’t establish any rules!” She yelled back, “Get down here!”

He chuckled and slid down the hill on his heels. She tossed him a fish and he looked around for a group of penguins. Once he spotted one he threw the fish in the middle and snuck into the group, straddling a massive penguin. It squawked and flapped its fins but he stroked the fur behind its ears and it calmed down.

He signaled to Katara that he was ready once she was on a penguin of her own. She patted it on the neck and they took off over the hills. Katara was laughing, when she turned to him and asked,

“So what did you get for your tattoo?”

“I got a wolf.”

“Cool!”

“Yeah,” Sokka smiled to himself, patting the penguin as they whipped through the snow.

“Where do you think they’re from?” She asked.

“Well I doubt they’re from here, there’s so little of us. And none of us are my age.” He looked up at the sky, thinking. “Maybe they’re from the North! Or the Earth Kingdom.”

Neither of them said what they were thinking. Spirits forbid that his soulmate was from the Fire Nation. And of course, they couldn’t be from the Air Temples.

They went quiet for a couple minutes, riding the penguins in silence.

“Maybe they’re like, a super powerful bender.” Katara suggested. She looked at her hands. He felt bad, she’d been trying to teach herself to waterbend for a couple years now.

“That would be cool.” Sokka agreed. “Maybe if they’re from the North we could finally get you to a waterbending master.”

Katara’s face lit up and she grinned at him. He smiled back but he almost felt guilty for getting her hopes up.

When they got back home, she gave him a hug and went to do some chores. He went to lay down. All the talk about his soulmate was giving him a little anxiety. They didn’t say it outside, but what if his soulmate  _ was _ Fire Nation? He shook that thought off. It couldn’t be. The universe wouldn’t pair him up with someone responsible for what happened to his mom. Right? He exhaled harshly and flopped down on his bed.

He just wouldn’t think about it.

About a month later, Katara broke an iceberg.

Well actually, she broke multiple icebergs. One of them just happened to have some fossils in it.

Living, breathing, airbender fossils.

Aang was about the most strange and likable person Sokka had ever met. He didn’t immediately trust him but he hadn’t exactly done anything suspicious. Other than well, being an airbender. 

Until he and Katara went on a crashed Fire Nation ship and set off an alarm. Sokka had to kick him out.

“But he could bring me to the North, Sokka! And I could get a waterbending teacher just like you said!” She protested. He knew she would, but he couldn’t let him stay. It was too dangerous. He felt a pang of guilt when he insisted the airbender leave.

He wasn’t surprised when a Fire Nation ship showed up in their village. But he was surprised when a boy his age stepped off of it. He was a bit shorter than the officers that flanked him. He was almost shy looking, but his eyes were full of rage. He was just a teenager, like Sokka.

He didn’t think about it too hard. But when the other boy started talking he knew it wasn’t just “some teenager.”

But it didn’t matter. Fire Nation royalty or not, he was attacking the village. So he ran at him, spear in hand. The boy grabbed it and flipped him. Sokka felt his stomach flip as he tumbled into the snow. Oops. 

The prince started monologuing about the Avatar again,  _ doesn’t he know the Avatar is dead? _ and Sokka used that to hurl his boomerang. The prince stepped out of the way and continued. Sokka smirked to himself, the other boy did exactly what he wanted.

And he couldn’t hold back a laugh when it came back around and hit him in the back of the head.

The prince growled and grabbed Sokka by the shirt. His breath stopped.

“I know you’re hiding him.” He snarled, knuckles grazing Sokka’s neck. His tattoo started to burn and he twisted in the other boy’s grip. Clearly he felt it too, because he dropped Sokka and backed away, scandalized.

Aang showed up and he went with them. It was a blur to Sokka, in his head from the incident.

He stood and ran. 

He found a wash basin in his room and washed his hands, his neck, and his chest. He’d forget about it. That was a coincidence. He was just anxious during the fight.

That was it.

Just a coincidence.

“Sokka!” He snapped out of his head. He must have been thinking deep for a while. He stood and went outside. Katara was pacing around, ranting about Aang.

“Katara.”

“I  _ know _ you don’t like him, but he saved the village!” 

Sokka sighed and started packing his things.

“How could you not trust him after that? He’s clearly not working with them!”

“Katara.”

“And it’s the right thing to do, Sokka!”

“Katara!” She stopped and looked at him. “Are you gonna keep talking or are you coming with me?” He stood with all his stuff packed. She smiled wide at him and gave him a hug.

“Thank you, Sokka! You won’t regret it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He tossed his stuff into his canoe. “You owe me one.”

“Where do you two think you’re going?” A stern voice came from a few feet away.

“Uhh…”

“You’ll need these.” Gran Gran smiled warmly, handing them some sleeping rolls and rations.

Katara hugged her, and then looked at the canoe. “How are we going to catch up to a Fire Navy ship in a canoe?”

As if he was listening, Appa roared overhead.

“Oh god.”

The rescue was a little sloppy, but it was successful. Once Aang got out of the hold, Sokka and Katara pulled up on Appa to grab him. But as he was sailing upward, the prince leapt and grabbed him. They landed Appa on the ship, and Sokka took to fighting soldiers instead of the prince. He couldn’t deal with his identity crisis right now. 

He and Katara took out a few men while Aang flew around the prince. Katara sent a wave over the ship, leaving the prince dangling over the side. Sokka looked down at him and they made eye contact. He looked, desperate almost. Sad. He looked down, like he knew it was hopeless. Sokka felt guilty proving him right. But he poked him in the head with Aang’s staff and stood. He ran to Appa before he could feel too bad about it, flinching when he heard the splash in the water. 

They flew off. Katara was chattering excitedly about waterbending, and beating people up, or something. Sokka was stewing in his anxiety. It was just a fluke. It had to be.

They ran into Zuko too many times over the next year. Sokka pretended not to notice the burning sensation in his chest.

They were just settling into the Western Air Temple when he showed up again.

“Hello,” He raised his hand awkwardly, “Zuko here.” Sokka’s insides turned, Spirits this kid was so socially awkward. Katara raised her hands for a fight.

“Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I'd wait for you here.” Appa licks him, Aang looks at the bison confused. “ I know you must be surprised to see me here.”

“Not really, since you've followed us all over the world.”

Zuko flinched. Sokka felt a little guilty.

“Right. Well, uhhh,” He continued, looking at his feet, “anyway. What I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you.” He looked up at Aang. “And,”

“You want to  _ what _ now?”

“You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you?” Katara said harshly, “I mean, how stupid do you think we are?” She looked to Sokka for backup.

He panicked, “Yeah, all you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!” Well it wasn’t inaccurate.

“I've done some  _ good _ things! I mean,” He flailed and stuttered on his words, “I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something!” He pointed his arms at Appa, who licked him again.

“Appa  _ does _ seem to like him.” Toph pointed out while Appa licked Zuko. 

“He probably coated himself in honey or something! I’m not buying it” Sokka spat out. Zuko flinched again.

“I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past.”

Sokka felt like his body was shutting down, “Like when you attacked our village?”

“Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?”

“Look,” The firebender looked like he was going to cry, “ I admit I've some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you.”

Sokka felt his lungs stop for a second.

“ _ You _ sent Combustion Man after us?”

“Well, that’s not his name, but--”

“Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend!” Sokka spat. He deserved to be somewhat hurt.

“He’s not my friend!” Zuko shouted, the rest of them flinched just a little. He looked ashamed.

“That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!” Toph yelled. 

He turned to Aang instead of answering her, “You said we could be friends once.”

Aang looked away. Sokka looked at Aang, he didn’t know about that.

“There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us.”

“What about you, Sokka?” Zuko asked. Sokka swallowed thickly, caught off guard, and looked at the firebender. Zuko stared him down.

“What about me?” Sokka asked, shifting his weight to ground himself.

Zuko looked down at his does and tugged at his sleeve, uncovering his right shoulder. Curled up on his shoulder was a tattoo of a red dragon. Sokka’s breath caught in his throat.

“Sokka what is he talking about?” Katara challenged. 

“I don’t know.” Sokka said firmly. He flinched at how shaky his voice felt.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!” Zuko protested, letting go of his sleeve. It slid back into place and covered the dragon again. The wolf on Sokka’s chest was pacing. Sokka placed his hand over it. Katara noticed his movements.

“No.” She shook her head, “We’re not doing this right now.” She pointed at Zuko, “You need to get out of here. Now.”

“I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore!” 

“Either you leave, or we attack.” Sokka said, trying to keep his voice steady.

Zuko’s eyes widened, “Fine! If you won’t take me as a friend, maybe you’ll take me as a prisoner.”

“No, we won’t.” Katara soaked him with water. Sokka felt bad but he stifled a laugh. “Get out of here, and don't come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!” Sokka felt the wolf’s disappointment in his chest. He ignored it.

Zuko stood up and he nodded. He left.

“Why would he try to fool us like that?” Katara looked at Sokka, as if he knew.

“Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap.” Sokka shrugged, looking down at his boomerang.

“This is just like when we were in prison together at Ba Sing Se.” She grumbled, “He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings.”

“He wants you to trust and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes.” Sokka looked down at the ground.

Katara’s features softened, “I’m sorry, Sokka.”

His face went stony, “It’s fine.”

Aang spoke up, “I kind of have a confession to make.” They turned to him, “Remember when you two were sick and I got captured by Zhao?”

Suddenly Sokka felt a spike of friendly rage, “And you made us suck on frozen frogs? How could I forget? I had a wart on the flap that hangs down from the back of my throat for a month!”

“Sokka, I looked at it, and I told you, there was nothing there!”

“I could feel it! It's my throatal flap!” 

“ _ Anyway _ ,” The siblings stopped, “when Zhao had me chained up, it was Zuko who came in and got me out. He risked his life to save me.”

“Pft,” Katara narrowed her eyes and waved her hands around, “He only did that to capture you himself.”

“Yeah.” Aang looked down, “You’re probably right.”

“And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar!” Katara threw her arms up.

“Actually, he wasn’t lying.” Toph interrupted.

“Oh, hooray! In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list.”

“I'm just saying that, considering his messed-up family and how he was raised, he could have turned out a lot worse.” Toph pointed out, Sokka felt a prick of anger in his chest. Ozai really was the worst.

“You're right, Toph! Let's go find him and give him a medal. The ‘not as much of a jerk as you could have been’ award!”

Well, he actually  _ was _ pretty kind and shy considering his upbringing.

“All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere.” Toph flexed her fingers, “Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly.” 

Sokka could see the hurt and anger bubbled up in Katara’s eyes, not that he could blame her, “Easy for you to say! You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates!”

“Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island.”

“Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple.”

“Why would you even  _ try _ to defend him?” 

“ _ Because _ Katara.” Toph poked her in the chest, Katara squawked in offense and crossed her arms, “you're all ignoring one crucial fact;” She poked Aang too, “Aang needs a firebending teacher! We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job!” She waves her short limbs around, “Now one shows up on a silver platter, and you won't even think about it?” She raises her voice, stomps and the temple shakes.

“I'm not having Zuko as my teacher!” Aang raises his voice and Toph stops.

“Of course you’re not.” Sokka crossed his arms.

“Then it’s settled.” Katara declared, hands on her hips.

“Ugh!” Toph scoffed, “I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here.” She did love her blind jokes. She went to her room.

Sokka couldn’t sleep that night. He rolled over on his mat and tried to shoot down his thoughts. He rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. Sighing, he sat up. 

“This is the worst plan.” He muttered to himself, standing and pulling on his shirt. His tattoo jumped around happily. 

“Yeah yeah, you won.” He poked his tattoo. “This is so stupid. I should be going to sleep.” 

He pulled on his shoes anyway. He went to grab a weapon but going armed might spark an argument. He glanced warily at his sword and boomerang and put his hand in his pocket. Instead, he picked up some rations. Zuko was probably hungry sleeping in the woods anyway.

He left the Western Air Temple in the direction that Zuko had left.

Not far from the temple was a shabby little tent. It was lit up by a fire pit and that was how Sokka spotted it.

Zuko was sitting in front of the fire and staring into it. His eyes were puffy. Sokka chose to ignore it. He stepped on a twig. He winced when Zuko’s eyes shot up.

“Who’s there?” He asked the forest harshly.

“It’s me.” Sokka said quickly.

Zuko’s eyes changed from sharp and angry to something unrecognizable.

“Oh.”

“Can I sit down?” Sokka asked, feeling it was safe to take a step into the small campsite.

Zuko looked up, surprised, “Sure.”

Sokka sat down on a log across from the other boy. 

“We need to talk.”

Zuko nodded, glancing at his shoulder for a second. “Yeah, we do.”  
“Should we try to… exchange them first?”

Zuko nodded and moved his sleeve up. Sokka sighed and pulled his shirt off. Zuko blushed and looked away. Sokka felt embarrassed for a second. 

Sokka shifted around the fire to be next to Zuko. He held his hand out and Zuko took it. It felt like his hand was on fire and he wasn’t sure if it was because Zuko was a firebender or because of the soulmate thing. Nothing happened for a second but then his whole body felt electric. He wondered if maybe Azula was waiting in the bushes to shock him but he brushed that off as ridiculous. 

The wolf on his chest started weaving around his arm and down to his hand. He looked over and the dragon on Zuko’s arm doing the same. And when they got to their hands, they switched. 

Time felt like it stopped.

Sokka and Zuko made eye contact. And Sokka wrapped his hand around the back of the firebender’s neck and kissed him.

Zuko kissed back, putting his hand on Sokka’s waist.

Suddenly reality caught up to Sokka. He pulled away.

“Nope.” He stood up, grabbing his shirt, “This is crazy.”

“What the fuck?” Zuko stood up, suddenly angry.

“I can’t do this right now. This is insane. I’m insane.” He pulled the shirt over his head, “It was stupid of me to come here. I shouldn’t have come.” He turned to leave.

“But you did! Why would you come if you knew this would happen?” Zuko followed after him.

“Because I didn’t want it to!” Sokka whipped around and they made eye contact, “I wanted it to be all in my head. I wanted to finally be proven wrong.”

Zuko recoiled. He looked down at his feet. His shoulders were shaking. 

Sokka turned and ran.   


When he got back to his room he threw himself down on his mat and went to sleep.

The next morning he was woken up by explosions.

He sprung into action mode, rolling off his mat and grabbing his sword and boomerang. He sprinted down the hall to see that cyborg that had been following them blasting at the air temple. 

Sokka hid behind a pillar, back up against it, crouched on the floor. Katara looked over at him and did a double take. 

“What the hell is on your arm?”

He looked down and the red dragon was still curled up on his shoulder, mirroring the way that it rested on Zuko. Oh spirits.

He shrugged, “Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night.”

“You  _ what _ ?” Aang shouted in disbelief. 

“ _ Zuko _ ?” Katara sounded equally offended and Sokka winced.

“I--” There was a particularly large blast from Mr. Combustion Man and Sokka’s sentence got cut off. The blast was enough for Aang and Katara to drop it.

“Stop!” 

Sokka whipped around to look past the pillar. It was Zuko, throwing himself in front of a walking explosive. Like a moron.

“I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore!” Aang looked up in shock.

“The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop.” Zuko tried to shove him but Combustion Man threw him out of the way. Sokka’s fists clenched.

“If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!” Zuko tried to firebend, but the cyborg grabbed him, “Alright, I'll pay you double to stop!”

The assassin threw him off the ledge.

Sokka’s heart stopped.

The team snapped into action.

Aang kicked up some dust to cover them. The man keeps shooting. Katara flings icicles at him and he blocks them. Everything they sent at him he managed to deflect.

“He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side!” Toph hollers.

“I can’t get a good enough angle without getting blown up,” Katara shouts, getting some water ready to try again.

Sokka had an idea, “I can get an angle on him.” He pulled out his boomerang. “Okay buddy, don’t fail me now!” He feels the metal leave his fingers. 

It hits Combustion Man right in his forehead tattoo. He tries to shoot again and he blows himself up. 

Sokka felt a rush of adrenaline, “Yeah!” He cheers, catching his boomerang. Then he remembers Zuko and he looks back at the ledge. He squints as the fog clears, this heart dropping to his toes.

Katara walks up next to him and gently places her hand on his shoulder.

Sokka looked down but he heard rustling from the ledge and moved his eyes back to the spot where Zuko fell.

Zuko was pulling himself up from a plant growing on the temple walls. Sokka’s chest soared, his shoulder where Zuko’s dragon rested was tingling. Zuko made his way down to the area where the gang was standing and recovering from today’s trauma.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but… thanks, Zuko.”

“Hey, I did the boomerang thing.” Sokka joked.

Zuko smiled softly and said, “Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday,” Katara gave him a look, “I've been through a lot in the last few years,” Sokka internally snorted, that was a total understatement. Zuko actually seemed to find that funny too, he laughed slightly while he continued to speak.

“...and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth.” He looked down, “I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me.” He looked back up again, making eye contact with Aang. “But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world.”

The gang went silent. Aang, a little shocked, spoke up.

“I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me.” Aang bows. Zuko bows back.

“Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group.”

“Not so fast. I need to ask my friends first.” Aang warned him, Sokka glanced at his sister, only a little scared.

“Toph?”

“Go ahead and let him join.” She pounded her fists together, “Plenty of time for payback.” Zuko’s eyes widened but smiled shyly. 

“Sokka?”

He shrugged, trying to come across as indifferent, “Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it.” Zuko tried to hide a smile.

“Katara?”

As if everyone felt the room darken, they all looked over to Katara. She glares at him, crossing her arms. “I'll go along with whatever you think is right.”

Aang grins.

Zuko looked excited, “I won’t let you down, I promise.”

Exhausted, the group split up and Sokka and Zuko were left.

“I’ll show you to your room.” Sokka smiles, leading the way into the hallway.

“So, here you go, home sweet home, I guess, you know, for now.” Sokka looks anywhere but Zuko’s eyes. “Unpack? Lunch, soon? Uhhh... welcome aboard?”

“We need to talk.” 

Sokka sighed, “Yeah. We do.” He sat down on Zuko’s bed.

“So…”

“I’m sorry.” Sokka apologized first. “For acting like a jerk in the woods last night. I didn’t know how to deal with it and I freaked out. But I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“Well,” Zuko said, “If it makes you feel any better I did attack you multiple times.” 

Sokka almost choked laughing, it seemed almost unnatural for Zuko to just casually drop a joke like that.

“That is true.” The silence that fell around them was thick and heavy.

“So--”

“I--”

“You go first.” Zuko offered.

“I think we can make this work.” Sokka blurted out, looking up at the other boy. 

“Yeah.”

“Did you want your tattoo or did you want to keep mine?”

“I mean I’m good with either.” Zuko said in a small voice. 

“I kinda like this guy,” Sokka smiled and poked the dragon on his shoulder, “Maybe I’ll keep him.” The dragon breathed inked fire in response.

“Hey wait a minute--”

“Nope, I’ve decided. He’s mine now.”

“Well I’m keeping the wolf then.”

“Works for me.” Sokka chuckled.

“Can I--” Zuko asked and looked at Sokka's lips for a split second.

“Yeah.” Sokka swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

Zuko cupped Sokka’s face. Sokka leaned into it, the firebenders hands were warm and surprisingly soft.

Zuko kissed him and he felt his heart shiver. He kissed back, pulling him down and onto his own bed.

The door swung open.

“Oh.”

Sokka froze and shoved Zuko off of him. Zuko fell over onto the other side of the bed.

“Hi Katara.” Sokka said, unsure whether to laugh or scream.

Katara turned and left.

Zuko giggled quietly next to him.

“I don’t know what you’re laughing about.” Sokka said, “My sister is terrifying.”

“I thought she was gonna kill me.” Zuko wheezed, “She’s gonna kick me out of the group.”

“Nah.” Sokka settled into Zuko’s chest, “I won’t let her.”

They fell asleep.


End file.
